Along with a recent growing interest in environmental issues, move to paperless offices has rapidly been promoted. For this purpose, there is conventionally known a document management system which reads paper documents accumulated in binders by using a scanner, converts the read images into portable document format (to be abbreviated as “PDF” hereinafter) data, and accumulates them in an image storage device as a database.
An image processing system has also been developed, which reads a paper document by using a scanner, extracts objects such as characters, tables, and illustrations on the document by executing image processing such as OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and edge extraction, and generates reusable vector data (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-342408).
In image communication to transmit/receive image information between terminals, especially for the purpose of transfer to a specific person, a facsimile apparatus which transmits/receives image information in accordance with a dedicated protocol by mainly using a public network or a method of attaching an image file to e-mail between computer thermals connected through a network is used (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-242326).
Along with penetration of the Internet, a WWW (World Wide Web) system which uses a computer communication network has received a great deal of attention, although it does not aim at transfer to a specific person. The WWW system is a client/server system based on a communication protocol TCP/IP, like an Internet application such as e-mail. The WWW system is developing as an information search/providing system which is implemented by transmitting various kinds of data handled on computers, including not only image information but also text, audio, and moving image data; between a WWW server application and a client application having GUI (Graphical User Interface) called a “WWW browser”.
However, when image communication by the conventional facsimile apparatus as described above is used, the user cannot confirm the transmitted image until it is printed on the receiving side. Even when the information is unwanted for the receiving side, it cannot be recognized in advance so reception cannot be avoided. In addition, a facsimile apparatus which assumes image transfer between apparatuses is often shared by a plurality of persons. For this reason, the system does not guarantee that data is reliably received by a target person. Also, anyone except the target person may see the received contents. Furthermore, a sender who wants the target person confirm the transmitted image must use another means such as a telephone to confirm it.
According to the above-described method of attaching an image file to e-mail between computer terminals connected through a network, the reliability of transfer to a target person, i.e., a conventional problem unsolved, can be ensured because e-mail targeted to an individual is used.
However, even in the conventional method using e-mail, a received image can be confirmed only after communication finishes, like the case of a facsimile apparatus. In addition, even information unwanted for the receiving side cannot be recognized in advance so reception cannot be avoided.
E-mail essentially aims at transmitting/receiving text data. When a high-quality image file having a high resolution usable for printing is attached, the data transfer amount is enormous, resulting in large load on the e-mail server. Additionally, to cause the display device of the receiving-side terminal to display the image file, display application software is necessary. This requires a large memory capacity and also applies heavy load to the CPU.